Business Issues New STEM Guidelines

At a national summit of business and education leaders, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) released a report outlining the essential role business plays in the success of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, which is crucial to U.S. students’ preparation for the future workforce and ensuring American economic health for future generations. 

The Case for Being Bold, commissioned by the U.S. Chamber's Institute for a Competitive Workforce and authored by AEI, calls on the American business community to use its credibility, political heft, and its ultimate role as the employer of America’s STEM talent to apply innovative and fresh thinking to areas of protracted debate, such as academic standards, human capital, and new school models. The Case for Being Bold outlines recommended areas of entry and action for businesses on these issues.

"Business leaders have insight into the skills students need such as critical thinking, problem-solving and the ability to imagine solutions that are needed for success in the knowledge economy of today and tomorrow,” said Michele Cahill, Vice President, National Programs, Carnegie Corporation of New York and Co-chair of Opportunity Equation.  “Students gain these skills through engaging and well-taught math and science education. The Institute for a Competitive Workforce's new report, "A Case for Being Bold," brings a welcome emphasis on a strong role for business in communicating to policymakers, schools, students and parents that this higher level of STEM achievement is urgently needed. The report also argues that this won't happen without transforming America's schools.”

Cahill continued, ”As Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Advanced Study found in our study, The Opportunity Equation, schools need to adapt to the 21st century and redesign to effectively engage every student in deeper learning of math and science. Business leaders can contribute to this thinking from their unique insights into how organizations need to constantly innovate to meet new challenges."

Read the ICW’s press release.